LAS VEGAS— Sin City has the greatest density of surveillance cameras per square mile anywhere outside the Pentagon, and that fact makes Vegas an appropriate host for both Black Hat and Def Con, the ying and yang of information security conferences.

The NSA ban was voluntary. I'm sure there were some Challenge Coin holders in my flight from Baltimore. And I picked up no RF emissions from the badge...

Do you assume the government accesses all your internet connected equipment because you report on these kind of sensitive issues. Do you take precautions to keep some of your private data off the grid?

That Wall of Sheep is great. I wonder how many people were surprised to end up on it.

I have a friend who went, although I haven't heard his con report just yet. His plan was to use a burner laptop and VPN via ssh tunnel to the outside world. I wonder if all that did was expose his VPN to hacking instead.

Moss is right: the war isn't coming, it's already here, and everyone from badass master hackers to low-level IT grunts is going to have to pick a side. Snowden, Stuxnet et al are just little teasers of what is to come.

I'm not sure whether to trust that more or less than hardware bought somewhere besides Def Con...and at this point I don't trust hardware (bought outside of Def Con) further than I can throw it (less, if it's small, like a router or a smartphone)...

That Wall of Sheep is great. I wonder how many people were surprised to end up on it.

I have a friend who went, although I haven't heard his con report just yet. His plan was to use a burner laptop and VPN via ssh tunnel to the outside world. I wonder if all that did was expose his VPN to hacking instead.

That Wall of Sheep is great. I wonder how many people were surprised to end up on it.

I have a friend who went, although I haven't heard his con report just yet. His plan was to use a burner laptop and VPN via ssh tunnel to the outside world. I wonder if all that did was expose his VPN to hacking instead.

And that's what micro EC2 instances are for.

You know, I want to attend this thing as a spectator, but stuff like this honestly makes me feel like I'm a sheep waiting to get shorn going in. I'd seriously have to dig out my old flip phone and just unplug from the world for the entire week i'm at the tech conference.

You know, I want to attend this thing as a spectator, but stuff like this honestly makes me feel like I'm a sheep waiting to get shorn going in. I'd seriously have to dig out my old flip phone and just unplug from the world for the entire week i'm at the tech conference.

Going off the grid isn't a bad thing, in fact you'd likely find a lot of attendees happy to share tips and tricks on how to do it best. Remember, any threat you encounter at defcon is just a more concentrated version of what's already out there, especially if you spend a lot of time in high-traffic areas like airports and downtown business centers.

That Wall of Sheep is great. I wonder how many people were surprised to end up on it.

I have a friend who went, although I haven't heard his con report just yet. His plan was to use a burner laptop and VPN via ssh tunnel to the outside world. I wonder if all that did was expose his VPN to hacking instead.

And that's what micro EC2 instances are for.

You know, I want to attend this thing as a spectator, but stuff like this honestly makes me feel like I'm a sheep waiting to get shorn going in. I'd seriously have to dig out my old flip phone and just unplug from the world for the entire week i'm at the tech conference.

Remember that GSM can be easily hacked.

But yeah, I really want to go to one of this conferences just to bask in the environment.

That Wall of Sheep is great. I wonder how many people were surprised to end up on it.

I have a friend who went, although I haven't heard his con report just yet. His plan was to use a burner laptop and VPN via ssh tunnel to the outside world. I wonder if all that did was expose his VPN to hacking instead.

And that's what micro EC2 instances are for.

You know, I want to attend this thing as a spectator, but stuff like this honestly makes me feel like I'm a sheep waiting to get shorn going in. I'd seriously have to dig out my old flip phone and just unplug from the world for the entire week i'm at the tech conference.

Remember that GSM can be easily hacked.

But yeah, I really want to go to one of this conferences just to bask in the environment.

I can't speak for the Mandalay Bay CC, but I recall at the LVCC seeing the cellular gear in a poorly secured location. That is, the LVCC has internal cell sites.

As you know, once someone has physical access, all bets are off regarding security.

That Wall of Sheep is great. I wonder how many people were surprised to end up on it.

I have a friend who went, although I haven't heard his con report just yet. His plan was to use a burner laptop and VPN via ssh tunnel to the outside world. I wonder if all that did was expose his VPN to hacking instead.

And that's what micro EC2 instances are for.

You know, I want to attend this thing as a spectator, but stuff like this honestly makes me feel like I'm a sheep waiting to get shorn going in. I'd seriously have to dig out my old flip phone and just unplug from the world for the entire week i'm at the tech conference.

Remember that GSM can be easily hacked.

But yeah, I really want to go to one of this conferences just to bask in the environment.

there are quite a few things you can sniff at a conference in vegas

but i think point is u use a 20 dollar throw away phone/ old phone avoid having your smartphone/expensive/normal phone hacked and possibly compromised later ...not that the burner is actually more secure

if u r an average joe or jill you just turn off wifi bluetooth and nfc on your smart phone when you enter the conference area and u will probably be fine.. also use a vpn on your laptop and enable the DNS leak protection. if you want to be extra paranoid use a vpn on your 4g connection as well.

"It's full of hackers, of course, but how many of those actually want to steal identities?"

Oh, it is mostly not them who you should be worried about. But the "bad guys" who will get these tech via covert and intimidation means. The these bad guys will do WORSE than just "steal your identity, they will set you up for sometime really sinister if you fit their target profile.

"It's full of hackers, of course, but how many of those actually want to steal identities?"

Oh, it is mostly not them who you should be worried about. But the "bad guys" who will get these tech via covert and intimidation means. The these bad guys will do WORSE than just "steal your identity, they will set you up for sometime really sinister if you fit their target profile.

Moss is yet another opportunist for snatching up a few extra square inches of byte space for his own personal cache. yes, this event is even more exciting than the 1895 exposition, with new fangled moto cars and dirigibles were claimed as futuristic and could change the path of humanity to a better end. we need to be aware of the divisiveness and the real value of understanding what sharing and secrecy really portends for all.

snake oil still remains the best lubricant to human exploitation, denial of trust and worse, for the challenge of keeping humanity alive and safe from our own loss of eternal comprehension.....

mcaffee was casually (but somewhat incoherently) expressing the 'information black hole' that exists, out of view, from the majority of all communication sharing. if there is 'a need', sadly, that information will be used inappropriately. beware. DB816F17

Moss is right: the war isn't coming, it's already here, and everyone from badass master hackers to low-level IT grunts is going to have to pick a side. Snowden, Stuxnet et al are just little teasers of what is to come.

What does this mean for the average consumer cell phone user...should they be worried that this supposedly secure phone gets rooted in such a short period of time? Has BlackBerry 10 been rooted? Has anyone tried? It's been out for well over a year.

Anyone going to complain about the blatant objectification of men by the Norse company? I mean, the guy is TOPLESS! The other one is gratuitously showing his arms! What does that have to do with security or hacking? We need for those men to be covered up so that their bodies cannot be ogled by women or men!! Outrageous!

What does this mean for the average consumer cell phone user...should they be worried that this supposedly secure phone gets rooted in such a short period of time? Has BlackBerry 10 been rooted? Has anyone tried? It's been out for well over a year.

Anyone going to complain about the blatant objectification of men by the Norse company? I mean, the guy is TOPLESS! The other one is gratuitously showing his arms! What does that have to do with security or hacking? We need for those men to be covered up so that their bodies cannot be ogled by women or men!! Outrageous!

I wish i had a photo of the mom and daughter outside the rio chippendales last night... she held the phone while her teenage daughter pretended to hump the bigger than lifelike poster of the shirtless men it was pretty priceless

What does this mean for the average consumer cell phone user...should they be worried that this supposedly secure phone gets rooted in such a short period of time? Has BlackBerry 10 been rooted? Has anyone tried? It's been out for well over a year.

I don't grok. Are you saying you want a phone that CAN'T be rooted?

How perverse.

They're not talking about rooting your own, but rooting someone else's in order to install a bunch of nasty shit without the user knowing about it. Unlockable phones are a double edged sword, which is all the more reason to use a burn phone if you're doing something you'd rather the whole world not know about.

What does this mean for the average consumer cell phone user...should they be worried that this supposedly secure phone gets rooted in such a short period of time? Has BlackBerry 10 been rooted? Has anyone tried? It's been out for well over a year.